Unless specified, all seminars for the Autumn Term 2009 are at the University of Sussex, Tuesdays 12.30-1.55pm, in the Russell Building, Room 9. (Wheelchair accessible.)

How reminiscence can facilitate Deaf people's health and wellbeing

Date: 8 December 2009 
Speaker: John Walker, University of Sussex 
The Our Space project aims to identify spaces that will facilitate Deaf people's health and wellbeing through reminiscence activity in real and virtual space. This seminar explores the development of an on-line archive where the visual recording of narratives in British Sign Language is central to the website. www.deaflifehistory.org.uk (please note that this link is not yet live as it is currently being developed. This website will be available in December 2009).

Producing history - Oral historians as the 'middle men' of history

Date: 1 December 2009   
Speaker: Chris Webb, University of Huddersfield
Christopher Webb will draw on his experiences as an oral history 'worker' within the heritage industry to highlight the dilemma of maintaining one's independence as a conscientious historian while producing history as a commodity.

Afghan women: Stories from the 1920s onwards

Date: 17 November 2009 
Speaker: Julie Bilaud, University of Sussex 
Afghan women have been depicted in the international press as a monolithic and homogenous group in need of 'rescue' from a 'barbaric culture'. Julie Bilaud explores this representation with the personal stories of Afghan women collected in her fieldwork in Kabul 2007.

The inter-cultural encounters of peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Date: 10 November 2009 
Speaker: Catherine Baker, University of Southampton 
Catherine Baker discusses the inter-cultural aspects of peacekeeping based on oral history interviews with British and Danish peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina, with a particular focus on the self-positioning and identity construction of interpreters and linguists.

Creating Soundscapes for exhibitions and galleries

Date: 3 November 2009 
Speaker: Mary Ingoldby, Freelance Oral Historian 
How do you use personal testimony in exhibitions and galleries - is it compelling or is it just annoying? Mary Ingoldby is an oral historian and sound artist and will speak about creating soundscapes for galleries and for specific places. She will discuss mixing original voices with song and poetry and play excerpts from recent work.

QueenSpark Books: A practical example of radical history-making in the community

Date: 27 October 2009 
Speaker: Lorraine Sitzia, University of Sussex 
In order to survive a rapidly changing political and social climate, QueenSpark Books has had to adapt whilst trying to hold onto its original beliefs. Lorraine Sitzia explores how the ideals of radical history-making translate into practice, by considering the internal and external factors that have shaped QueenSpark's development over the past 35 years.